Jobscape: Older jobless can create new careers

Betty Wong

Published 1:00 am, Sunday, June 22, 2014

From left; Wholesome Wave's Cristina Sandolo and Leah Johnson discuss a company project with Encore! Hartford intern Harold Topper, of Stamford, Conn., in the non-profit business' offices in Bridgeport, Conn. on Tuesday, June 17, 2014. The UCONN program targets corporate professionals looking to transition to work in the non-profit sector.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

Harold Topper, of Stamford, Conn., an intern from UCONN's Encore! Hartford program, with his picture on the intern wall at non-profit Wholesome Wave's offices in Bridgeport, Conn. on Tuesday, June 17, 2014. The UCONN program targets corporate professionals looking to transition to work in the non-profit sector.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

In 1993, LouAnn Bloomer was a divorced mom with three children when she lost her IBM job after 20 years.

After leaving her IBM community relations job, Bloomer decided to start a business from her dining room table that became Danbury-based TBICO, a nonprofit job training agency.

Bloomer, now 67, noticed shortfalls in job programs in the practical application of skills. "There was a piece missing and I mentioned it to someone and they suggested I pursue it. I didn't sit down with a big business plan," she said.

TBICO, an acronym for The Bridge to Independence and Career Opportunities, began as a welfare-to-work program helping young women and now helps clients of all incomes, education and age. TBICO trained 532 people in 2013 in technology and other skills.

"We have women with GEDs to Ph.Ds," said Bloomer, a New Milford resident.

She said her clientele changed amid the Great Recession. "We still have younger women, women trying to escape poverty. But now we have just as many (older women) trying to avoid poverty."

Bloomer reinvented her career by helping others to find jobs.

While the Connecticut labor market has shown signs of revival, the lone laggard remains opportunities for the long-term unemployed, those who have been jobless for at least six months that include a disproportionately large number of baby boomers.

"While the unemployment rate has improved for all groups, the long-term unemployed are especially slow to return to pre-recession levels," said Andy Condon, director of research at the state Department of Labor in Wethersfield.

Labor Department economist Patrick Flaherty said, "The long-term unemployed are the group that remains farthest above pre-recession unemployment levels. The number out 52 weeks or more is four times what it was before the recession started. The 26-week-or-more group (including the 52 weeks or more) are nearly three times pre-recession levels. The short-term unemployed remain approximately 25 percent above pre-recession levels."

In such a foreboding post-Great Recession economic environment, some advocate career reinvention as essential.

"Given all the changes in the economic environment, when businesses are forced to reinvent themselves and business cycles are shortened, career reinvention is the new form of job security," said Pamela Mitchell, the founder and CEO of Miami-based The Reinvention Institute, a coaching company to help professionals transform their careers. "A long-term strategic plan used to be 10 years, then five years and now three years. If businesses are reinventing their business models frequently, people are forced to reinvent themselves too. It's a myth that reinvention is for people leaving a company and going somewhere else, you need to within the same job or if you're going to a different department. Be strategic. Where is the market headed? Reinvent yourself to be relevant."

Nora Duncan, state director of AARP Connecticut in Hartford, said, "Many people are reinventing themselves. Some because they are struggling in the job market and others are purposefully leaving the job market to pursue a long-term goal."

Duncan said a growing number of the long-term unemployed are baby boomers and AARP supports the passage of the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act that would overturn Supreme Court decisions that toughened the burden of proof for employees claiming age discrimination. A Connecticut General Assembly committee report in December found once workers age 50 and older lost their jobs, they were the most likely to experience long-term joblessness.

AARP supports several programs for members who want or need to reinvent themselves, including "Encore! Hartford," a workforce-development program targeting seasoned corporate professionals seeking to transition into the nonprofit sector. The four-month program run by the Non-Profit Leadership Program of the University of Connecticut includes biweekly seminars and internships.

Harold Topper, 58, graduated Thursday from "Encore! Hartford" and is serving his internship at Bridgeport-based Wholesome Wave, which aims to give underserved communities access to healthier food choices. Topper, a Stamford resident, is working at Wholesome Wave's innovation lab, an incubator for programs and helping to document business plans.

Topper spent 25 years as a software developer working on different projects before starting and running a window blinds franchise until 2013. He knew he wanted to help people, having been a volunteer member of the Stamford Lions Club for 20 years, now serving a second term as president. "My kids are out of college. Life is like a video game. I'm done with that level and there aren't that many lives left, so it's more about me and my wife and what I want to do. I'm at the age where I want to give back."

Mitchell, called "The Queen of Reinvention" by Fortune magazine, said, "Careers are delivery devices for the life you want to live. Where do you want your life to be in five to seven years? It's a myth that you will stay in a job for 25 years. Look at your skills and talents and where is the gap?"